On February 19–20, 1884, one of the largest and most widespread tornado outbreaks in American history occurred over the Southeastern United States. Known as the Enigma tornado outbreak due to the unknown number of total tornadoes, the outbreak produced the largest 24-hour total of killer tornadoes until the 1974 Super Outbreak on April 3–4. The precise number of tornadoes as well as fatalities incurred during the outbreak is unknown, but the death toll was variously estimated to range from 370–2,000 at the time. A reliable survey by the Signal Corps in 1889 located 182 fatalities, and a reanalysis by tornado researcher Thomas P. Grazulis in 1993 counted 178 deaths. Nonetheless, an inspection of newspaper reports and governmental studies published in the aftermath reveals successive, long-t